Akatsuki Roadtrip
by SCREAM109
Summary: Follow the daily ups and downs of the life of an Akatsuki member as they set off on a new mission
1. An Explosive Wait

"You got any 7's?"

-"Go fish. You should like that." sneered Sasori.

-"You know that joke is starting to really get on my nerves..." grumbled Kisame picking a card from the pile.

They were sitting at a wobbly wooden table, just the two of them. A few candles hung on the stone walls giving the room a dim glow that suited its occupants just fine. There was a wooden door at each end. One led to a tiny room that Deidara had fashioned into a temporary workshop and was busy at work. The two could often catch sounds of small explosions and muffled cuss words. The other door led to a long stone staircase back to the outside world.

"Any idea when Itachi will be back? I'm getting sick of this place."

-"I know and I'm tired of hearing about it! Play your turn!" snapped Kisame who was getting sick of Sasori's whining lately.

-"Alright, shit, relax will you. Any 2's?" he asked.

-"No"

-"You're lying" sneered Sasori.

Kisame turned quickly and sure enough one of Sasori's puppets was staring right over his shoulder.

"Fuck this I'm done!" he shouted throwing his cards down.

-"Hey, you were trying to cheat there too so don't even try to put this on me" Sasori replied angrily.

Kisame grabbed his sword: "I'll tear you to..."

BANG!

Kisame stopped sword mid-raised. The explosion had come from Deidara's worshop. They heard a couple of bottles falling off shelves and a thin black smoke was creeping out of under the door. They stood there frozen in shock and started when the door creaked open.

Smoke poured out of the workshop and cause Kisame to go into a small coughing fit while Sasori rushed to open the outside door. As the smoke cleared Deidara's figure became visible in the doorway. The first thing Kisame and Sasori noticed was the look of horrified shock on his face. Their gaze slowly crept up as their realised that:

"My hair! My beautiful hair! IT'S GONE!" shrieked Deidara. "The explosion burnt it all! One art destroyed another! What the fuck am i going to do now!"

Silence fell over the room. It held tensely for a few seconds until Kisame let out a low snicker which triggered a loud outburst of laughter between Sasori and him.

"Shut up you dumbasses this isn't funny!"

-"He's a bit scarier now that he doesn't look like such a girl!" hollered Kisame.

And everything stopped as suddenly as it started. A shadow had crept its way into the room. The eyes of the group followed the shadow up towards the figure standing in the doorway.

"It's about time" whispered Kisame.


	2. The Great Tenth

Itachi entered the room and took a few moments to obverse what lay in front of him. A bald Deidara was standing just outside his workshop where a few trails of smoke were still drifting lazily out the door. His robe was torn and slightly burnt at the end of both sleeves and he seemed to be trying to repress a look of rage and embarrassment. In the middle of the room Sasori was standing still, looking at Itachi with a mixture of relief and excitement to hear the news of his trip. A few feet away from Sasori, Kisame was leaning his sword against the wall, his face slowly unflushing from the intense burst of laughter that had just passed.

"Sigh...I leave for a couple of days and I return to...this... You men are a disgrace to our order." stated Itachi in an authorative voice.

-"Hey! I was hard at work this whole time! It's these two shitheads over here that were about to kill each other!" snapped Deidara.

-"Yeah, but luckily Deidara lightened the mood for us just in time with his "hard work"." Snickered Kisame, loving the red fury he could see building in Deidara's face.

-"Enough! Deidara honestly you did yourself a favour with that, you were starting to look like Tsunade in her teen years." stated Itachi in the same calm voice. This brought even more laughter to Kisame who could barely hold himself up anymore and had tears rolling down both his cheeks. Itachi continued: "Now if you guys are all done fucking around, I've got some news for you."

The effect was instant. Kisame's laughter ended as quickly as it had started and he stood straight, listening attentively. Deidara's face returned to its regular colour and he too looked intrigued.

"Please tell me we can leave this damn hellhole already!" shouted Sasori. "If I have to spend another day in this cramped little excuse for a hideout with these guys, I'm gonna lose it!"

Itachi sighed slightly but answered. "Yes we will be leaving but not immediately. We have a long mission ahead of us and we will need to stay here one more night in order to rest and prepare. Now everyone shut up and let me explain what is going on. This is a matter of importance enough to Pain for him to send one of his figures personally to deliver the details so I expect your undivided attention."

And he had it. Itachi explained that through days of searching in obscure books, Pain had found a mention of a new Jinchuriki, a ten-tails. It was said that the ten-tails' power surpassed that of all other tailed beasts. The amount of chakra it possessed was equal to that of the nine others combined. Needless to say this had become the Akatsuki's top priority. If they controlled this one tailed beast, it would not matter if they ever got control of the others. They would simply have to eliminate them one by one until only the ten-tails remained and they controlled the highest power in the entire world. Pain had chosen them because he considered them to be his strongest and most versatile team. This was a mission that would require an amazing amount of stealth as the holder of the ten-tails was a chunin of the leaf village. It is said the ten-tails had entered her at birth in order to hide itself from a world it sensed was growing greedier and more power hungry than ever before. Neither the girl nor her family had any idea of this. Pain had refused to explain more than necessary stating that if he had managed this discovery others were bound to in time and had left leaving Itachi to hurry back in order to inform the team and make preparations.

"So who's the bitch?" sneered Deidara.

-"A young woman of the Hyuga clan. She goes by the name of Hinata, heiress to the main bloodline. Our instructions are clear. Capture her as swiftly and silently as possible. The quieter this is, the better, the girl doesn't know of her extraordinary power and we absolutely do NOT want her finding out while we are trying to retrieve her. Understood?"

A disappointed grumble of agreement ran through the room. Itachi knew they were all hoping for an action packed mission but his orders were clear and he was intent on following them to the letter.

"Alright then. Deidara, you're in charge of collecting water for the beginning of our journey. We will be walking through the deserts of the Country Of Wind and thus water is of primordial importance. Kisame, you will be in charge of collecting food supplies. We will be able to find some as we go in the desert but it will be rare and having a good amount of emergency supplies will keep us from going hungry through the more arid stretches. Sasori, I want you to come with me. Your puppet skills may be great but for a mission that requires this amount of stealth hand to hand combat is the best option and your skills in that department a quite lacking compared to the rest of the team."

-"WHAT? I can defend myself just as well as anyone he..."

A swift punch to the groin from Itachi sent him sprawling.

"My point is proven" muttered Itachi in a perfectly normal tone.

-"What...the...fucking...shit...fuck...aaaaaah...bitch!" wimpered Sasori as he lay bent with both his hands painfully cupping his genitals.

-"Get up and we begin training immediately. Any more complaints and I'll add fire to the next one. Now does everyone understand their duties?" he continued in the same emotionless voice.

Kisame and Deidara responded affirmatively while Sasori moaned something that everyone took for an agreement although it sounded more along the line of "I'm going to fucking kill you".

Deidara and Kisame both left the room and headed towards the river. Sasori trembled his way back up to his feet and stared at Itachi with rage, awaiting the next steps.

"One evening of training clearly is not enough to make any significant difference here", stated the Uchiha, "so Pain has given me a very special instruction for you in order to quickly boost you up to speed for this mission. This is to be received with the highest honour in your part as Pain has quite literally sacrificed a part of one of his selves in order to accomplish this. Although I must warn you, it's going to hurt like a bitch."

-"I'm not sure what's worse, your warning or the fact that this is serious enough to make you sound almost human" said Sasori behind a nervous smile.

-"What I have here in my pocket is about to change your life forever..." murmured Itachi.


	3. Bitter Comrades

Deidara and Kisame walked down a dirt path with forest flanking them on each side. It was hard to believe that they were in the Country of Wind and that only a couple of miles ahead lay the vast desert that would lead them to the Hidden Leaf Village. They took a right onto a smaller path into the woods towards the river. Kisame whistled tunelessly while Deidara kept trying to hit squirrels with mini balls of clay.

"You'd think you'd have enough explosives for one day" said Kisame smirking.

The news of the mission had calmed Deidara and he was intent on not letting Kisame get to him a second time. "The hardships only make one appreciate the beauty of his art that much more" he said trying to sound poetic.

-"Too bad in this case it involved sacrificing the beauty of one's face to go with it." Kisame pushed on.

Deidara twitched satisfyingly which widened Kisame's grin slightly. They kept walking in silence until they reached the river. Deidara moulded a big clay pot to put the water in. He was bending over to fill it when a naked Kisame ran past him and jumped in, sending water splashing everywhere and soaking Deidara.

"Kisame you shithead! Can't you see I'm trying to do my fucking job here!" he shouted, color rising all the way up his bald head.

-"So am I. Water is my specialty and we need food. Add 2 and 2 and you've got fish."

-"I'm supposed to be getting us drinking water! Now it's full of your filth! Nobody wants to drink that shit!" a vein had popped its way out of the top of his head.

-"Relax. The current is washing all that away, the water is fine. Now do your job and let me do mine." He plunged under before Deidara could have a chance to say anything.

Resigned to do his work so he could get away from his blue teammate as quickly as possible, Deidara filled the pot, moulded another and filled that one too. Meanwhile Kisame was moving through the water at a remarkable speed and by the time Deidara had finished, a nice pile of about a dozen fish lay on the river bank.

"Great..." thought Deidara "that means I'll be stuck walking back with him."

"Hey Deidara, make me one of those clay pots to carry my fish why don't you." Called Kisame from the river.

Deidara, still mad at his partner told him he could do his job on his own and he was leaving. Kisame climbed out of the river.

"Guess if I don't have a pot my only choice is to bundle them up in my robe and walk back naked. Is that really the sight you want next to you the whole way?" he said snidely.

"What about the shirt and pants you usually wear under them?" asked Deidara repulsed by what was standing in front of him.

"Took those off almost as soon as we got to the new hideout. Was getting too hot being cramped up in there. Guess I forgot to put them back on before we left."

"Ugh...fine...You disgusting freak." conceded Deidara, fashioning a clay pot for Kisame's fish while his partner put his cloak back on.

"I swear I always thought you were into naked men. Guess you can't always judge a book by its cover."

Deidara just started walking. He was tired of Kisame's taunts and just wanted to get back to the hideout and rest.

The walk back was uneventful. Deidara was slowly calming down once again and Kisame was satisfied with today's small victories. Once they made it back to the hideout they each left their pots of supplies next to the entrance. Kisame said he had to go find some secret herbs he knew of that would stop the fish from spoiling for about a month and he set off back into the woods. Deidara went down the stone steps and got to the wooden door. The walk had tired him out. By the position the sun had been in before when they arrived at the hideout he guessed it must have taken them a good couple of hours in total.

He pushed the door open and a strange sight awaited him.

"Itachi... What the hell happened to Sasori?" he gasped.


	4. A Powerful Operation

Sasori's gaze was fixed on Itachi's closed fist. What object of such a minuscule size could possess the kind of power and importance that Itachi spoke of? He felt himself shaking slightly in anticipation and he noticed his breathing had accelerated.

Itachi's hand took what seemed like minutes to open even though it was only a fraction of a second. And in it lay an eye but not just any eye. Sasori's first reaction was disgust until he noticed this eye was of a purplish-gray color all around and had a ripple pattern similar to that of a drop falling in water.

"Itachi...is this...is this what I think it it? One of Pain's rinnegans?" whispered Sasori in awe.

"Yes that is exactly what it is. Now here, drink this it will numb your body and help make the chakra transition easier." Said Itachi, tossing a glass vial to Sasori who almost dropped it because of how significant his trembling had become.

"Wait, what's going to happen exactly..?"

"I am going to remove one of your current eyes and replace it with this rinnegan. This will allow you to not only copy jutsu's like my sharingan but you will also be able to see chakra points like the byakugan and you will have the ability to learn all jutsus. Now we must hurry, I do not want this to cause a commotion so I would rather it be done while the others are away. Also, it would be better if you keep the eye covered at all times unless absolutely necessary. Pain doesn't want the others feeling like he is picking favourites so if we can keep it a secret during the whole mission it would be best, it is only a precaution he is taking. Also, since you were not born with this power, using it will expend your chakra quickly so you really have no choice but to keep it hidden unless necessary."

"What about my opinion here?" asked Sasori nervously.

"Unless you wish to sit out this mission and thus be exiled from the order, your opinion is irrelevant." continued Itachi in his same matter-of-fact tone.

"Okay then...in that case...I guess I don't have a choice."

"You should not be hesitant. This is a great honour and an opportunity to increase your strength immensely that Pain is giving you. To be this unsure of it is insulting to the sacrifice he has made for you." Continued Itachi, a sliver of anger breaking into his usually emotionless voice.

"Woa! Alright! It's just not every day you get forced to give up an eye ok?" exclaimed Sasori. "I guess... I guess I'll give up the left one" he added and downed the vial's content.

His legs suddenly felt weak and he fell hard to the floor.

"You should have warned me idiot. I could have caught you." Itachi said bending over Sasori with a thin knife in hand.

The liquid had numbed Sasori greatly but not put him to sleep. He needed to be awake to make the transfer of his body's chakra into his new eye possible. The initial incision was painful but he was too numb to utter any sounds. Itachi worked quickly and efficiently and within a few minutes the procedure was complete. He used a small fireball jutsu to burn all traces of the old eye. He then dabbed the blood that had dripped around the cuts and wiped his own bloodied hands and left the cloth on the ground as it was part of his plan for explaining what had happened to the others.

"Now your body needs to get used to this new part and spread its chakra through it. This combined with the elixir you just took and going to be very draining. Your body has already started transferring chakra into the new eye, it should be alright to sleep and I would recommend you do that since we are leaving tomorrow." He handed Sasori an eye patch. "Wear this over it so it is not always in use. I already know what I am going to tell the others. I'll fill you in tomorrow when you are properly conscious"

Itachi had been meditating the mission they had been assigned when he heard the sound of someone walking down the steps to the hideout door. The door opened and Deidara walked in. His gaze fell on Sasori laying with the eye patch over his left eye and the bloodied rag that lay next to him and a look of shock and worry appeared on his face. Sasori had always been his partner and they had grown into friends throughout the missions they had faced together.

"Itachi...What the hell happened to Sasori?" he gasped.

"Training accident with a kunai, it's nothing to worry about." said Itachi in his usual relaxed tone. "I have already looked at it and it will heal back to normal. However he will need to wear that eye patch for a while because his eye will be very sensitive."

Deidara accepted this explanation without any questions like Itachi knew he would. He then proceeded to ask how their tasks had gone. Deidara said he had brought back two pots of water and Kisame had caught a dozen fish. He told Itachi that Kisame would return shortly after he had found the herbs he needed to preserve the fish.

"Are you sure I can't take a look at his eye just to see if there's anything else I can do for him?" asked Sasori still somewhat worried.

"Removing the patch now would only further risk exposing it to infection. I am satisfied with the treatment I gave him and you should be too." the tone he used showed that he did not wish to discuss the matter any further.

"Meh...alright I guess... I'm going to sleep now. All the shit I've put up with today has tired me the fuck out." Deidara walked towards the far corner of the room where he had piled some leaves to sleep on when they had arrived. Unlike the others, he shuddered at the thought of sleeping directly on the ground.

"I will remain awake until our final member returns so I can inform him of what happened here. We will be up early tomorrow. I expect no complaints when I awaken everyone."

"Yeah, yeah, now shut up and let me sleep!"

Itachi awaited Kisame's return quietly. Once his blue friend had arrived and the night's events had been explained, both promptly went to sleep knowing too well that the following morning would mark the beginning of a long and strenuous journey.


	5. A Not So Good Encounter

Itachi awoke at sunrise. The others were still fast asleep. He knew he would have to get them all up soon but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a word in with Sasori. He walked over to where the puppeteer had passed out the night before and shook him gently, not wanting him to make too much noise.

"Mmm no Deidara...for the last time I won't touch you there..." he mumbled in his sleep.

Itachi paused trying to hold in a laugh, something he couldn't remember having to do in a long time. He shook Sasori again and this time he awoke with a slight start not seeming to have realised what he just said.

"Ugh...the fuck man...I feel like I got knocked out by a three thousand pound sumo wrestler..." grumbled Sasori.

"Yes. The elixir you drank combined with the chakra switch will do that. But enough about that, we've got some quick business to cover before I wake the others. I told them your eye was injured because of a kunai accident training yesterday and that it will be too sensitive to remove the patch for a while. Obviously I expect you to stick with this story; the eye patch does not come off unless we face a situation of extreme danger." explained Itachi firmly.

Sasori agreed and they proceeded with waking the other two. Both grumbled and complained when they were woken up but within a few minutes everyone was dressed and packed. They prepared a quick breakfast of a few roots and leaves they found nearby, agreeing to keep the fish for the long trip through the desert. Once they finished eating, they divided their water supply between the canteens they each carried at their side. They set off quietly towards the desert.

They reached the desert after an hour without any interruptions. Deidara and Sasori were discussing the artistic values of puppets and explosives and coming up with ways to combine both while Kisame and Itachi tried to figure out ways to get Hinata without causing a stir in the village. Their conversation was almost a complete opposite of the artist's one as neither seemed to be able to think of a plan that had a strong chance of succeeding.

"Everyone stop." Itachi said suddenly.

Everyone halted and looked at him wondering about the cause for the hold up. Itachi grabbed a handful of kunai and was about to throw them at the bushes at the edge of the woods behind them when a voice cried out.

"Oh no! Don't hurt me sir! I'm a good boy!" and a man stood out from behind one of the bushes.

He wore an orange mask with only one eye hole and a swirl pattern that had its center where the eye whole was. He wore the exact same robe as them.

"My name is Toby sir! Oh boy! I'm so excited to meet you all!" he said with a surprisingly childish voice for a man of his stature.

"Where the hell did you get that robe?" asked Deidara not knowing whether he should be angry or cautious at this strange intruder.

"Oh Toby's been watching you in the hideout for days and you are all so cool! Toby wants to be just like you! Toby ran to the village and had it made to look exactly like yours! Am I in now? Oh please please please!"

There was a slight pause while the shocked group took in what Tobi had just said.

"NO!" they all suddenly answered.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" yelled Deidara

"You've been spying on us this whole time?" said Sasori.

"You think our group accepts idiots?" sneered Itachi.

"Did you laugh when this guy exploded?" asked Kisame pointing at Deidara.

The whole group turned to face Kisame. The vein in Deidara's head had reappeared and even Itachi looked like he wanted to hit someone.

"Why Tobi did find that quite amusing!" exclaimed the newcomer.

"Never mind what I said earlier. I like this guy" smirked Kisame.

"But Tobi thought the explosives were beautiful too!" he continued

Deidara's vein disappeared suddenly. "Oh you did? Actually I've been working on those quite some time. I see you know your arts. Maybe you're not so bad after all."

"You guys have got to be fucking kidding..." said Sasori in complete disbelief of how easily this idiotic newcomer was winning over what was supposed to be an elite criminal team.

"Kisame! Deidara! Smarten up you two! We've got no room for this ditz on our team! We have a very clear and very important mission to accomplish! Does this idiot look like Akatsuki material to you?" stated Itachi in an angry tone.

"But...Tobi...good boy...Tobi is..." stuttered tobi sounding shocked and sad.

"If you have really seen everything you say you have we should kill you. But you seem like to much of an idiot to cause us any trouble so I will let you go. This is your last warning. Do not follow us or next time we will kill you. Anyway this is a desert so there is no way you could follow us. Now leave" ordered Itachi.

Toby turned his back, slouching and looking depressed as he slowly walked away and back into the forest.

"I still think he seemed like a cool guy" muttered Kisame.

The group marched on quietly. They walked for hours on end in the endless desert. The sun was setting and the air was starting to have a cold bite to it. The group agreed it was time to set up camp for the night. Luckily Itachi's fire jutsu allowed them to have a fire that would burn on nothing and thus keep them warm overnight. They had no tents, packing lighter allowed them to move faster. Each member removed his cloak and set it on the sand as a blanket to sleep on. They were all laying down when Kisame noticed a light in the distance that looked like it might be another fire.

He told the others he was going to check it out. They let him go, knowing if it was a bandit that Kisame was strong and sneaky enough not to cause any big disturbances. He made his way a few hundred meters, advancing slowly and being careful of where he stepped.

He was only about 20 meters away but hidden by an odd bush.

Or so he thought. The figure turned and looked right at him. The figure stood up and without warning ran right towards where Kisame was crouched.


	6. Sand Ball Disaster

The shadow figure was running at Kisame but Kisame had already had the chance to identify it and stood his ground. The figure threw itself on the desert sand and grabbed Kisame's legs in a tight grip.

"Oh please please please don't tell the others Tobi is here! They would kill Tobi! Tobi just wants likes to watch your group and be just like you so that maybe one day Tobi can join! It would be Tobi's dream to join such a cool organization!" begged Tobi.

"I like you Tobi but the others don't." Kisame said almost apologetically.

"But they like you! Of course they do you're the coolest! You can help Tobi right? Tobi knows you can!"

"I don't know Tobi... Hmmm... I may have a plan. But the only thing is it might get you in or it might get you killed." Said Kisame pensively.

Kisame was almost back at the Akatsuki campground where his teammates were awaiting to see what he had found.

"No big deal guys. Just innocent bystanders and they didn't see m..." he was interrupted by Tobi jumping on his back and throwing him to the ground.

No one in the team had seen him coming in the dark. In one quick, precise move Tobi grabbed Kisame's sword and threw it out of reach. He placed both his legs over Kisame's arms, rendering them useless and grabbed one of his kunais. He quickly placed it just over Kisame's throat, nicking him slightly and drawing a small bead of blood.

The whole group paused in awe not wanting to move in fear of Kisame's life.

"Shit...maybe we should have let him join...he seems pissed now" said Sasori worriedly.

"His talents seem much greater than any of us had expected" gasped Itachi.

"I told you guys he was a good boy..." murmured Deidara.

At that instant Tobi jumped off Kisame.

"Hurray! Tobi is in! And yes! Tobi is a good boy! Tobi is so happy right now! Tobi is crying under his mask!" Tobi was jumping joyously in all directions while the three Akatsukis wondered what had just happened. Kisame was smiling faintly on the ground where he still lay but all were too busy watching Tobi to notice Kisame's joy at a ruse well performed.

Tobi hugged Sasori who just stood in shock. He hugged Deidara and when he let go Deidara seemed to be embarrassingly trying to hide his groin region. He moved towards Itachi who told him if he ever hugged him he would not hesitate to kill him.

Tobi ran back to his camp to grab his belongings and the group got themselves ready for their first night out. Three of them were still trying to figure out what exactly had just happened while Kisame and Tobi secretly shared a laugh at how well it had all gone.

The group woke early the next morning and set off again through the desert of The Country Of Wind. The desert was vast and although they had seen a few silhouettes in the distance, no other traveller had crossed their path and all were relieved of this. Everyone was getting along with the new member except Itachi who still felt Tobi was an idiot bound to ruin their mission.

As he was walking, Itachi felt something hit him in the back of the head.

"I'm sorry Itachi sir! Tobi was aiming that sand ball at Deidara and missed!" said Tobi apologetically.

"Sand balls?" growled Itachi.

"Yeah we're having a sand ball fight" snickered Deidara amused at what had just happened. "Y'know like snowballs but you have to hold them together with chakra cause sand doesn't stick."

"Oh so it's a sand ball fight you want Tobi..." said Itachi menacingly. "Mangekyo sharingan!"

Everything went dark and Tobi found himself suddenly attached to a wall that had not been there before. All his friends had left and only Itachi remained in front of him.

"Where are we Itachi sir? This is scary, Tobi doesn't like this..." said Tobi nervously.

Itachi began speaking in a voice that had a sinister echo: "72 hours of sand ball begin now."

Tobi was pelted with countless sand balls for what felt like hours and even days. Finally they stopped.

"Oh my goodness it's finally over!" squealed Tobi.

Itachi spoke again in the same voice: "71 hours 59 minutes of sand ball remaining."

"NOOOOOOOOO!" shrieked Tobi.

Outside of Itachi's justsu only an instant had passed when Tobi regained consciousness but to Tobi a whole three days of being pelted with sand balls had just ended.

Tobi burst into tears and ran behind Kisame, peeking out to make sure Itachi was not coming after him.

"Now look what you've done." Grumbled Kisame.

"You really still want THAT on our squad!" said Itachi disbelievingly.

"Yes. We all know the mangekyo sharingan is a devastating attack and Tobi didn't deserve that! It was an accident after all!" replied Kisame defensively.

"Ugh...fine let's just keep moving..." sighed Itachi.

Kisame put Tobi over his shoulder knowing that the attack must have drained him and he kept advancing with the group. He liked Itachi but sometimes he felt the guy needed to lighten up a little, although he would rather have him with him than against him in any fight. The group walked on quietly, Kisame carrying a sleeping Tobi over his shoulder until the village hidden in the sand was in sight. They set up their camp far from the road and made preparations for the night. Tobi was to stand guard first since he had slept most of the day. They knew crossing the village at night would be best for stealth purposes but all were too exhausted to fight a heated battle if they were spotted. And since time was of the essence they could not wait until the following night. They would have to cross the village during the day and hope for the best.


	7. Discovered

The group woke early the next morning without having been disturbed during the night. Itachi had already devised a simple plan to get across the sand village quickly and without rousing too much negative attention. He asked Deidara to create one of his giant birds big enough to carry the five of them. Deidara did so easily. The bird had to be enormous and would of course be noticed as it flew over the village but Itachi hoped it would be dismissed as a freakish natural phenomenon by the villagers and that they wouldn't try to attack it since it was simply flying over them.

The group got on and took off. They were flying high and couldn't make out the details of the villagers beneath although it was clear that many were stopping in their tracks as the giant bird flew over them. The group relaxed quickly as it seemed the villagers were reacting exactly in the way Itachi had hoped. They started talking and laughing at how easily they had managed to trick a whole village.

"This trip has been very amusing so far" said Kisame smiling mischievously. "Itachi got hit with a sand ball, we tricked a whole village with a two minute operation but best of all, we got to see pretty-lady Deidara blow his face off!"

Deidara felt his mood quickly switch from happiness to anger and lost focus on his bird for a second. Although it was just a second it was enough the make the bird lurch violently. This sent Tobi flying off the edge shrieking in fright.

The bird was so big and high up that the villagers hadn't even noticed there was a group riding on it until Tobi flew off. The bird dived down and caught him but this made the other four members riding it also visible to the town below. Panic struck and the alarm was instantly raised.

Arrows started flying from all around but the group was well protected by the bird. Many arrows sunk themselves into its clay body without affecting the flight trajectory in the slightest. They had almost reached the final wall when the bird was struck by something big. The group never got to identify what it was but whatever it was it blew off half the bird's right wing. A panicked Deidara was doing all he could to keep the bird in flight but this was impossible with half a wing missing. The wall was approaching fast and it would be a close call if they made it over. Deidara was making the bird beat its remaining wings furiously, trying to retain as much altitude as he possibly could as the wall grew closer and closer.

The group felt a giant thud as their bird hit the wall hard. However it was only the wings, which were in a downstroke at the moment, which had hit it. The impact ripped both of them clean off and sent the body of the bird flying a few hundred meters forward. The group jumped off immediately and broke into a run noticing that a large group of guards was leaving the Sand Village in pursuit.

"Don't worry guys. I have a plan, just keep running." Smirked Deidara.

As the group of guards ran past the fallen carcass of the clay bird towards the running Akatsuki, the giant remains of the clay bird exploded. Sprays of clay, blood and flesh made their way all the way to where to where the group was running. They all paused to look back and see if they were still being chased.

The giant explosion seemed to have taken out all of their pursuers. The group resumed their run knowing they would be safe for a while since the village would have no idea of the direction they took and would also be very cautious after losing so many troops. However they also knew that word of their presence would be sent to the neighbouring villages and they would have to double their precautions as they approached the Leaf Village.

The village was near the edge of the desert and they ran until they reached the woods that marked the end of the Country of Wind and their entry into the Country Of Fire where they would find the Leaf Village. As they entered the forest they noticed a big hawk flying at an incredible speed in the same direction they were taking.

"The Sand Village is sending out warnings very quickly. This one seems to be headed towards the Leaf Village. We will have to be extremely cautious from now on." said Itachi.

The group set up camp far away from the path. Itachi organised the watches by pairs to be more alert. He made sure either himself or Sasori would always be awake since he had the sharingan and if it was absolutely necessary Sasori could use his rinnegan eye. Itachi and Kisame took the first watch as the rest of the group fell into much needed sleep.


	8. Child's Blood

The night had passed without any disturbances and the group awoke early the next morning. They were only two days away from the Leaf Village now and since their presence was known, they would have to be extremely careful for Leaf sentries hiding in trees. They started walking through the woods. Avoiding the roads would make the journey longer but would also reduce their chances of being spotted by guards.

"Tobi spies with his little eye..." started Tobi.

"Shut the fuck up you stupid fucking idiot!" sneered Itachi feeling like he might kill Tobi if he kept acting without thinking. "Do you want us to be heard by the guards that are posted all around? Are you trying to ruin the most important assignment of all our lives? If you do I will not hesitate to kill you. And the way I will do it will make the sand ball incident seem pleasant."

"Sorry Itachi" said Tobi sounding hurt.

The group continued in silence for quite a while. They had reached a particularly dense part of woods and their progress had slowed to a crawl as they worked their way over and under thick branches. They were making more noise now but they knew the chances of there being anyone in this area of the woods was slim.

They had been going like this for a few minutes and the forest showed no signs of letting up. Branches brushed against them constantly making low rustling sounds, twigs cracked under their feet and low curse words could be heard whenever one of the members got a branch in their eye or hit their head while crawling under a thick log.

All these low sounds were suddenly broken by a high, echoing scream that made the whole group jump and Kisame hit his head on the branch he was crawling under. They all turned to see what the source of the scream was.

Deidara had tripped over a log and fallen face first on a small snake that had instantly bit him in the nose. Kisame snickered and was about to say something but Itachi shushed him.

"Everybody move!" Itachi yelled.

They all jumped out of the way exactly as a swarm of kunai was thrown where they had just been standing. However, since they were in such thick forest they had all jumped towards the same opening and found themselves tripping over each other and landed in an embarrassing pile on a road next to the forest face to face with Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and Asuma. The group got to their feet quickly and faced the Leaf ninjas.

A kunai had hit Deidara in the leg and blood was flowing steadily from a wound in the back of his shin. Itachi told him to stay back and provide cover with his explosives while the rest of the group faced off against their assailants. After all even without Deidara it would be four against four and Itachi was not worried that four Akatsukis could overpower three chunins and a jonin even if one of the Akatsukis was an idiot.

Sasori was facing Ino, Choji was glaring at Tobi, Kisame was smiling menacingly at Shikamaru and Asuma was looking intently at Itachi. Asuma knew he needed to be the one that fought Itachi because of his powerful sharingan and he was not looking forward to having to try to fight a whole battle with his eyes lowered.

"Okay everyone... on my signal..." started Itachi and was interrupted by Tobi suddenly running at Choji.

"Tobi will prove himself to Itachi!" yelled Tobi in a frenzy and surprised the whole group by connecting a hard kick to Choji's face that sent him flying a few feet back.

Shikamaru was about to strike Tobi but Kisame sent a thick wall of water in between them to defend his partner. In the commotion and surprise Itachi had gotten the chance to set a genjutsu on Asuma and no one had noticed.

Ino was barely managing to block Sasori's blows even though he was easily their weakest hand to hand fighter. Choji was incapable to match Tobi's speed and Tobi's blows, although weak compared to what big Choji could handle, were starting to add up. Shikamaru was putting up a good fight thanks to his ability to plan and predict an opponent's moves but Kisame's sheer force was making it hard for him to get any attacks in.

Meanwhile Asmuma was in a different world. The sky had grown dark and his team had disappeared. He was surrounded by Itachi on all sides. Suddenly each Itachi took a baby out of behind their back. Although it was not yet born, Asuma somehow knew that was his child-to-be that Itachi was holding but he couldn't tell which was real. Each Itachi grabbed a kunai in the other hand and held it up to the baby's throat.

"No...you wouldn't..." gasped Asume knowing full well that the man surrounding him had killed his whole clan and would not hesitate to kill another.

The Itachis smiled and with a quick flash each kunai slit each baby's throat. Blood poured slowly from the wounds and started dripping. But no drop made it to the ground. As they left the baby's skin they transformed into a blood red crow. Crows flew towards Asuma in every direction. Their cries resembled the crying of a thousand babies and each started pecking at Asuma from all sides.

In the real world the only person that noticed Asuma's predicament was Deidara who was watching the whole fight from a small distance. He looked towards Itachi and Itachi gave him a small nod. Deidara reached into his satchel and started molding a clay crow knowing it was probably appropriate to the situation due to Itachi's love of the animal.

Throw the sea of birds pecking at his flesh Asuma saw that all the babies had stopped bleeding and their skin was starting to bubble and melt. The babies all melted and flowed together in front of one of the Itachis. They combined together into the shape of a big, pitch black crow. This crow flew at the Asuma who was paralysed by all the bird pecking at him. He closed his eyes and the crow hit.

All the fighting stopped. Everyone turned towards where the explosion had come from. Ino, Choji and Shikamaru gasped as they saw their sensei reduced to bits by Deidara's explosive. Sasori recovered first and quickly stabbed Ino in the stomach with a kunai. This brought Choji and Shikamaru back to reality.

An anger and sadness like he had never felt before took over Shikamaru and he released something he had never been capable of doing before. A shadow left him and divided itself in five, catching each one of his opponents.

Shikamaru smiled demonically. "I'm gonna kill every single one of you little shits!". Sasori noticed a hand of shadow had started crawling up his body towards his throat.

The hand grabbed Sasori's throat and started squeezing. Sasori started gasping and wheezing. After a minute his eyes closed. Shikamaru released his shadow and his body fell to the floor. The hand then started crawling up Deidara's body.

Shikamaru and Choji were both staring and Deidara with hatred in their eyes. "This is for Asuma you cowardly fucker." Said Shikamaru with hate and anger in his voice.

They were both staring so intently at the choking Deidara that neither saw the kunai that hit Shikamaru in the head coming. Shikamaru fell to the ground dead and all his shadows disappeared. Deidara was blue in the face but still standing, gasping for breath.

Sasori, the owner of the kunai, stood up calmly, looking at Shikamaru coldly.

"Poor idiot had no idea we was fighting a puppet. Still, letting your guard down like that... he deserved it." Sasori said coldly.

Choji was left facing the five Akatsukis. The group surrounded him each sporting the same evil smile.

"I was honestly expecting better from my former village." said Itachi calmly. "Now if you know what is good for you, you will tell us everything you know about the girl Hinata."

"H-h-hinata? What do you want with her?" stuttered Choji.

"None of you concern." Replied Itachi coldly. "If your next response isn't an answer to my question, we will kill you."

Choji looked at them all. Suddenly his faced firmed and he looked determined. He turned towards Itachi and opened his mouth. But rather than speech, a thick glob of saliva left his mouth and landed heavily on Itachi's cheek.

A flash of intense anger flashed on Itachi's face. He grabbed Choji by the throat and picked him up with surprising strength. The anger left his face and he smiled creepily.

"Tobi tie him up, Deidara get your clay ready. This fat boy looks hungry."

Itachi burned the four corpses and the group spread the ashes around. Before he burnt them, Itachi noticed the group was full of supplies as if they were just leaving on a mission. This meant that the village would not notice their disappearance for a while, thinking they were gone on their mission.

The Akatsuki slipped back into the woods and resumed their walk, their thirst for action quenched for just a little longer.


	9. Avenged Before Death

They hadn't been walking for very long when they heard a rustle in the bushes behind them. They all jumped and turned trying to find the source of the noise. Itachi spotted it first and ran towards the fallen Deidara. After the heat of the battle everyone had forgotten about Deidara's injured leg which seemed to have begun bleeding heavily since the group resumed their walk in the forest.

Deidara's face was very pale, almost white and he was shaking slightly.

"Guys...I think I'm fucking done for... I can't even see straight anymore..." he said.

"No Tobi can't let you die!" yelled Tobi and he started to shove every herb and leaf he could get his hands on in Deidara's mouth hoping to stumble into something with medicinal properties.

Kisame slapped Tobi across the head. "He's already bleeding no need to choke him to!" But the whole group understood how Tobi felt and they knew nothing more could be done. None of them knew enough medical ninjutsu to heal this much blood loss.

Deidara coughed out the plants and started to frown at Tobi but stopped as he saw how shaken his partner looked.

"You'll be alright... There's still four of you guys...I know you can still get that bitch.."

"Yes sir Deidara! Tobi will make sure the bitch is taken for you Deidara sir!" wailed the orange masked Akatsuki.

"Yeah," continued Sasori "We'll get her for you and we'll kill any leaf ninja that stands in our way." He looked into Deidara's eyes with his uncovered eye to show that he meant everything he said.

Deidara closed his eyes. "At least I can go knowing the fuckers that did this to me have been killed more than appropriately." he said with a faint smile.

They stayed by Deidara's side until they could no longer see his chest rise and fall. Hating to do so but knowing it was necessary to retain their cover, Itachi burned Deidara's bodie like he had done with those of Team 10. Tears were flowing out of under Tobi's mask and the group resumed their walk with noticeably less drive and speed.

They spent the next day walking in silence. Knowing they were approaching their objective but without feeling the same excitement that usually came with it. A few sentries had walked by them on the way but the group had managed to keep themselves out of sight without much effort due to the density of the woods they were walking through. Now they were facing the wall that surrounded the Leaf Village without a plan on how to proceed and not feeling like they could come up with one at the moment. They did the only thing they could. The group set up their camp hidden in the forest and hoped that the next day would bring with it inspiration on how to infiltrate the village and capture the jinchuriki.


	10. Execution

The group awoke the next morning with a new found determination. Their sadness of the previous night had morphed itself into an unwavering determination to avenge their fallen friend. They knew that succeeding in this mission was the ultimate revenge for Deidara as it would cement the Akatsuki as the most powerful organisation to ever exist and the world would quickly fall before them.

What they needed now was a plan to get into the Leaf Village and find Hinata as quickly and silently as possible. They quickly started thinking together. They drew ideas in the dirt and discussed for hours, always finding weak points in each other's plans and determined to keep thinking until everything was perfect. They discussed excitedly as they neared perfection.

"Alright everyone. So you all remember your parts?" asked Itachi not able to hide his smile.

"It took us a while but this plan is totally fool proof. They won't even know what happened until it's all over!" said Kisame triumphantly.

"Too bad there is one element that you didn't plan on." Said a hidden voice that made them all jump.

Kakashi came out from behind a tree. On the opposite side of him Yamato did the same. Many more did the same until it seemed every Jonin and ANBU from the Village was there surrounding them. Even for four Akatsukis, fighting this many Jonins and ANBUs seemed like a sure loss. The force had managed to get all around them while they plotted, making escape impossible. They knew they were trapped. A few ninjas came forward and the Akatsukis showed no resistance when they tied their hands behind their back with thick, heavy handcuffs. They left Kisame his sword knowing it would harm them if they touched it but took all other weapons and items the group had on itself. They were not worried about the sword anyway since Kisame's arms were now solidly tied behind his back. They even strapped dark glasses over Itachi's eyes so he could no longer trap them in his Sharingan genjutsu.

The large force escorted the Akatsukis through the village towards the Hokage's mansion. The villagers had been ordered to remain indoors but a few of them threw rocks or vegetables from windows at the detained prisoners. Sasori was hit a few times in the face. Kisame dodged a sharp rock that had been aimed for the back of his head. Not a single ninja left the group detaining them, knowing the immense power these four possessed and having all been ordered to keep a close watch on them by the Hokage.

They arrived at the Hokage's mansion where Tsunade was waiting for them outside. Shizune was standing on her right and the Leaf elders to her left. She looked upon the large group gravely. And spoke:

"So this is the infamous Akatsuki. I am honestly disappointed, I would have expected four S ranked criminals to be much harder to trace and capture. It will almost be a shame to execute you all."

"Aren't you gonna try to interrogate us or something?" sneered Sasori.

"As much as I would love to torture the information out of all of you even I know it would be a waste of time. No, the longer you are all alive the more danger everyone on this city is in. Which is why the preparations have already been made and you will all be killed right now by the ninjas that surround you." Said Tsunade in a strong tone.

The four criminals were dragged to an open area and each surrounded by four ANBUs. Each ANBU was armed with a chakra coated sword. One held the tip against the Akatsuki's head, another against the neck, one against the heart and one was place over the stomach. The Hokage wanted every precaution taken to assure the criminals would be truly dead once the executions were done with. The ANBU stood at the ready, blades pressed against the criminals, waiting for Tsunade's signal.

A bead of sweat leaked down Kisame's face and fell on the sword that was near his neck. The drips evaporated instantly due to the strength of the chakra coating it. Kisame gulped, not seeing any way out of this situation. The hand cuffs made it impossible to make proper hand signs and they no longer had anywhere to run, there were swords in all directions.

The group stood there and smiled at each other, knowing it was all they could do as they awaited their fate not knowing if it was really taking Tsunade a long time to announce the signal or if the anticipation of what was to come had slowed their perception of time.

Tsunade raised her arm. The criminals closed their eyes, still retaining the same defiant smile in the face of their doom.

Tsunade's arm fell and four blades pierced deeply into each Akatsuki.


	11. Believe It

The afternoon was beautiful. Hinata was lazily swinging in a small park, enjoying the warm sun on her pale skin. She had always appreciated the small amounts of time she got to just be alone with her thoughts and all the commotion was giving her just that.

With all the Jonin and ANBU at the Hokage's mansion the usual guard of the city had been assigned to Genins and Chunins for the time being. Hinata had avoided this due to having sustained a minor leg injury on her last mission. Everyone in the city that wasn't on the main wall keeping watch was regrouped outside the Hokage's mansion to witness the capture and execution of the four S ranked criminals.

Hinata was not one to enjoy this type of violent behaviour and was very content on her own, gently swinging the day away. She went up and down and up and down and up and while she was up she noticed someone walking in the distance. The person was coming towards her and she squinted to see who it was and felt her heart leap in her chest. She quickly jumped off her swing and looked around for a place to hide. She felt small drops of sweat bead on her neck and her hands began to tremble lightly as she scanned the empty park for anywhere she could hide.

But it was too late, she had been spotted. The figure called out to her: "Hey Hinata! Wait up!"

"Oh N-n-naruto! Aren't you supposed to be..um..over on the wall n-now?" Hinata said blushing heavily.

"There's plenty of other guys up there. I'll hear if something happens. I'd much rather spend some alone time with you, believe it!" said Naruto joyously.

Hinata nearly fainted when she heard this but managed to keep herself up although she was now blushing so heavily her whole body was taking a pinkish tinge. She wanted to reply but her lips were trembling so severely she didn't think she could. Naruto didn't give her anytime to say anything anyway. He grabbed her trembling hand and started pulling her along with him.

They zigzagged through empty streets, Hinata's head still much to light to have any idea where Naruto was taking her. She was just letting herself get dragged along by her secret lover and using all the concentration she could muster to keep herself from fainting.

"Believe it! We're almost th-...oh shit"

Hinata snapped back to reality. The last words spoken by Naruto had not sounded like Naruto, the voice was much too deep. She looked around and everything seemed to be melting around her. The hand that was holding hers had grown. She followed the arm and she couldn't believe what she saw. Holding tight to her hand was a man she had only seen in pictures before and had hoped to never meet: Itachi Uchiha. She looked around and three others that had not been there before were following them.

"Hey Itachi, she looks like she's conscious! What happened to your genjutsu?" shouted Kisame running behind.

"I lost focus when our clones got destroyed! Shit, I didn't expect the executions to happen so quickly! The alarm will be raised any min-" Before Itachi could finish a loud bell sounded from far off where the Hokage's mansion was.

"Fuck! Soon we'll have the whole village after us! Not just the jonins and ANBUs." Yelled Sasori who was running to the right of Itachi.

Hinata wanted to do something but she was now too terrified to move. She had hoped to never find herself in the presence of one Akatsuki and being kidnapped by four of them was too much for her to handle.

"Well they still don't know where we are so if we can make it to our escape hole in time we might not encounter any problems." Said Kisame.

The group ran, a little slowed down by Hinata who was half being dragged, half trying to put up a fight. Their escape path was a hole Toby had dug under the wall that started and ended a few hundred meters away from it on each side in order for them to not be spotted by the sentries when they went in and out. They made it to their whole and paused to get a grip on the situation.

They could hear no one around them, all the movement seemed to be headed towards the main gates as if the village expected them to have walking right into the town. The group laughed at this and were about to make their escape when a voice sounded.

"Hey ugly! You better drop her now or I'm gonna kick the shit outta you...believe it!"


End file.
